Sports Law: Another “Superstar” Taken Down Too Soon? Who Knows?
Here is another sports lawsuit in which a plaintiff is suing because his future career as a professional athlete has been tainted by circumstances beyond his control. In Greenwich, Conn., a father is suing the city because his son, now 18, was injured four years ago while playing soccer in a public facility.
This sounds just like the high school softball player suing in New York City, which we blogged about late last year.
The problem from the plaintiff’s perspective is how to prove damages. Based on the article, they may have no difficulty proving that they suffered out-of-pocket medical damages. They may not have difficulty proving that the city or soccer league was liable. Proving lost future earnings as a result of the son’s alleged professional soccer career having been destroyed will be an uphill battle, to say the least.
Comments such as the one made by the player’s father in the article are not helpful:
"If he decides to try out, (a college coach) could say, `No, sorry, you're injured,' " he said of his son, Mark, 18, a Greenwich High School senior and varsity soccer player. "Because of his injury he is at a disadvantage -- and it's not his fault."
Had there been some evidence of the player being at an elite level, he may have a solid chance at proving damages, but even that would be relatively unlikely to result in a large payout. Now the father is apparently acknowledging that the son may not even try to play in college. That is not a sound legal strategy for a plaintiff who is seeking to prove that he has lost his future earnings potential.
